ebbinghaus
Member
Saturday was a great day to take a short hike. Persuaded my wife to come along as conditions were more or less perfect for her: no rain, few bugs, moderate temperate, short hike, with view.
I had never hiked in the Eastern ADKs before. I had seen Pharaoh Mtn from the Northway. It looked interesting. It was.
We took exit 28 and followed the ADK Eastern Region guidebook. The roads became smaller and smaller. The guidebook, published in 1994, warned that Crane Pond Road was a Wilderness road and might be closed at the parking lot in the future. This would have added an additional 2mi each way. It would turn the 6m RT that my wife signed on for into a 10m RT. Our fears were almost groundless!!
The road was open. But, oh, what a road!!
This road was worse than that road on Maui in Hawaii where it started raining mangoes!! (Imagine that -- 1lb objects hurtling down at you -- do you stay in the car or run away? Especially as when you rented the car the rental company explicitly said to NOT go on that road??!!)
Well, no raining mangoes, but big potholes, large rocks, and a 60 -ft stretch of water!! What do do at the water? Well the guy in the Subaru in front of ours either asparated or drove thru. We drove thru. Kept going. Avoiding the larger rocks and being thankful that we took the Forester on this outing rather than a lesser vehicle!
Well -- the drive to the trail head was the most exciting and challenging part of the journey.
The hike from the car to Pharaoh was a pleasant stroll in the park. The first half was thru a nice old pine forest. No undergrowth growing on the floor of this forest -- too shady. Made for nice walking --- soft on the feet and cool.
Did I mention that we didn't start hiking until 9:30? A guy could get used to this!!
The second half ascended 1500 feet or so. Nice trail. Compared to the climb to Giant (on any trail you can name), this was a very pleasant stroll. Of course we took frequent rest stops and drank much water.
The views from the top were superb. Three great viewing areas all near the top.
One set of viewing rocks looked west to the high peaks. Giant and Rocky were to be seen northernmost. Then Dix and its minions. Way in the distant haze could be seen Marcy and the Great Range.
The view from the south was great as well. More of this beautiful pine and hardwood forest of the Eastern ADKs. Schroon Lake and its various villiages were visible. Very nice.
The view to the East was equal to the first two. From there we saw Pharaoh Lake and Treadway Mnt and several of the small lakes of this region.
Took us 1 & a half leisurely hours to climb up. We stayed on the top for an hour. Took us another 1.5 hrs to leisurely hike down.
A pleasant time was had by both of us. I got to further break in new boots, sleep in on a saturday, and enjoy the company of the love of my life. (Plus we had a reasonably good, if slow service, lunch in Schroon Village.)
Who could ask for anything more?
I had never hiked in the Eastern ADKs before. I had seen Pharaoh Mtn from the Northway. It looked interesting. It was.
We took exit 28 and followed the ADK Eastern Region guidebook. The roads became smaller and smaller. The guidebook, published in 1994, warned that Crane Pond Road was a Wilderness road and might be closed at the parking lot in the future. This would have added an additional 2mi each way. It would turn the 6m RT that my wife signed on for into a 10m RT. Our fears were almost groundless!!
The road was open. But, oh, what a road!!
This road was worse than that road on Maui in Hawaii where it started raining mangoes!! (Imagine that -- 1lb objects hurtling down at you -- do you stay in the car or run away? Especially as when you rented the car the rental company explicitly said to NOT go on that road??!!)
Well, no raining mangoes, but big potholes, large rocks, and a 60 -ft stretch of water!! What do do at the water? Well the guy in the Subaru in front of ours either asparated or drove thru. We drove thru. Kept going. Avoiding the larger rocks and being thankful that we took the Forester on this outing rather than a lesser vehicle!
Well -- the drive to the trail head was the most exciting and challenging part of the journey.
The hike from the car to Pharaoh was a pleasant stroll in the park. The first half was thru a nice old pine forest. No undergrowth growing on the floor of this forest -- too shady. Made for nice walking --- soft on the feet and cool.
Did I mention that we didn't start hiking until 9:30? A guy could get used to this!!
The second half ascended 1500 feet or so. Nice trail. Compared to the climb to Giant (on any trail you can name), this was a very pleasant stroll. Of course we took frequent rest stops and drank much water.
The views from the top were superb. Three great viewing areas all near the top.
One set of viewing rocks looked west to the high peaks. Giant and Rocky were to be seen northernmost. Then Dix and its minions. Way in the distant haze could be seen Marcy and the Great Range.
The view from the south was great as well. More of this beautiful pine and hardwood forest of the Eastern ADKs. Schroon Lake and its various villiages were visible. Very nice.
The view to the East was equal to the first two. From there we saw Pharaoh Lake and Treadway Mnt and several of the small lakes of this region.
Took us 1 & a half leisurely hours to climb up. We stayed on the top for an hour. Took us another 1.5 hrs to leisurely hike down.
A pleasant time was had by both of us. I got to further break in new boots, sleep in on a saturday, and enjoy the company of the love of my life. (Plus we had a reasonably good, if slow service, lunch in Schroon Village.)
Who could ask for anything more?
